July 11, 2023, 7:56 AM
July 11, 2023, 7:56 AM
The MAS faction that supports the Government of Luis Arce will try this week to unlock the validation of international loans for $327 million in the Legislative Assembly. A $52 million loan from the IDB has already been rejected and the head of state asked his bases to “make a body to demand” that these loans be approved.
The legislators of the faction that promotes the return of Evo Morales is not certain about the destination of these fundswhile from the Citizen Community (CC) they indicated that “indebtedness indicators” are already dangerous because the Government has not demonstrated the usefulness of these resources in terms of investment and development.
Senator Leonardo Loza, from the ‘evista’ wing, explained yesterday that In the two and a half years that Arce was in power, 26 loans were approvedbut without results that are visible.
“I don’t know if they handle something secret, something private, what will be the reason. They demand that we approve these credits and they even make us look bad by complaining to the social sectors, accusing us that we are not approving. We have approved just over 26 projects and so far we do not know how it is spent and what it is spent on”, Loza pointed out.
He insisted on pointing out that “mayors, governors continue to complain about investment. ‘There is no money, there is no money’, they tell us. They are those things that are not clarified, ”he said.
In counterpart, He mentioned that “heard” cases of corruption. “It is known that there is a minister arrested, from another ministry another defendant who took several million. That is what is known. Now, we know little or nothing about which projects are being carried out or in which investments are being made. We have no information, ”he pointed out.
“The economy does not wait for the desire of some bad deputies They simply want to paralyze public investment,” Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro said on Sunday about the obstacles the Executive faces in getting the credits approved.
The authority stated that the debt contracted by the country reaches 29% with respect to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)according to a low indicator compared to other countries.
He explained that, on average, $us 58.4 million per month were contracted during Arce’s management. “Indebtedness itself is not bad. What the indebtedness does is generate resources to be taken to investment projects or replacement of expenses that the national government did at the time”, the minister previously pointed out to defend the need to validate these contracts.
Deputy José Luis Porcel, from Comunidad Ciudadana (CC), has other information. He explained yesterday that by the Planning Commission, of which he is a part, close to $us 4,000 million have passed since Arce came to power and that the rate of indebtedness is above $us 100 million per month “and this is already worrying.”
He explained that in December 2020 there were loans for $704 million, in 2021 $459 million were approved and the following year $1,200 million. “Only until June of this year we already have $1.6 billion in credits approved and we have the necessary documents to prove it,” he stated.
“We don’t have to be irresponsible. It is not about having credits approved without agreements that help the economy. We have to reduce public spending. So much is spent on social media advertising. So much money is spent on bureaucracy. Couldn’t an adjustment be made?” questioned the legislator, who pointed out that on many occasions the government was unable to explain the destination of the funds and clarified that “freely available resources cannot be approved.”
The head of the ruling bench, Andrés Flores, explained that They hope that these contracts can be unlocked in the coming sessions so that the investment becomes viable. Last Thursday, the ‘archist’ wing MAS was only able to gather about 49 votes out of more than 100 to validate credits.